The head of inclusion at one of London’s top universities forced out amember of her staff in a campaign of “heavy-handed” victimisation, a tribunalhas ruled.
Isabella Chan, the head of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion at theUniversity of the Arts London, used a restructure of her department to “getrid” of a staff member who had complained about her.
In an August 2020 appraisal, Nina Rahel, an Equality and Diversity Officer,accused the university of struggling to handle racism complaints, and shesuggested that Ms Chan had made her feel “demeaned and insulted” with anearlier performance review.
A few months later, in December 2020, Ms Chan announced a restructure of theteam and decided – before any consultation – that Ms Rahel was going to loseher job, a tribunal has found.
Ms Rahel was not automatically slotted into one of the new roles, she wastold attend a job interview after she had been signed off sick with stress, andwas ultimately made redundant in October 2021.
She has now won an employment tribunal case brought against the university,after a panel upheld complaints of unfair dismissal and victimisation by MsChan.
“Ms Chan’s actions were clearly unfair and unreasonable, and evenheavy-handed”, concluded the tribunal.
Reacting to the ruling, Ms Rahel said she now feels “vindicated” and added:“There should be a clear-out, from the top to the bottom of all those who wereinvolved in unfairly dismissing and victimising me.”
The tribunal was told that when Ms Rahel, a university employee since 2012,raised concerns in her appraisal about the organisation’s responses to racism,Ms Chan “ignored” the comments instead of sending them to human resources.
The tribunal panel commented that “the lack ofaction on her part to deal with these complaints is very surprising, to say theleast, especially from the Head of the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusionfunction”.
It concluded that the restructure of thedepartment that was announced in December 2020 may have been genuine, but itwas also “used as a means of dismissing (Ms Rahel) by eliminating her joband making it virtually impossible for her to secure a job in the newstructure.
“To put it bluntly, it was a convenient way to getrid of the claimant.”
Ms Chan was criticised for “contradictory andself-serving” answers given during the tribunal hearing about the consultationprocess, including “logical contradictions” about why Ms Rahel was not slottedautomatically into a new job in the restructured department.
The tribunal noted that Ms Rahel was signed offsick with stress in summer 2021, but then faced a demand to attend a jobinterview if she wanted a chance of staying at the university.
“What was the point of fixing the interview on 3August when the claimant was off sick and then trying to justify it by sayingthat although the claimant was signed off as unfit to work that did not meanshe was unfit to attend the interview?”, asked the tribunal panel.
Ms Chan had been told to try to reduce Ms Rahel’sstress levels, but instead put her “under all kinds of pressure toattend the interview before she was even fit to return to work”, the paneladded.
The University of the Arts London is a federation of six colleges, includingCentral Saint Martins and the London College of Fashion, and has been ranked asa world-leading education establishment for art and design.
Zillur Rahman, the lawyer who represented Ms Rahel through his firm RahmanLowe, said she had “showed enormous courage in challenging what she consideredwas unfair and discriminatory right from the beginning”.
He added: “What is an aggravating feature in this case is that Nina workedwithin the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusivity department, whose purpose is tocombat discrimination at the University.”
A university spokesperson said: “We respect the tribunal's decision.
“The University has made significant progress in ensuring all members ofUAL’s diverse community are empowered to reach their full potential. Values ofequality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of this ambition.”
